


Before Christmas

by Liliace



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Christmas Fluff, Don't say I didn't warn you, Fluff, Getting Together, M/M, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, it's just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-25
Updated: 2017-12-25
Packaged: 2019-02-20 09:16:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,003
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13143609
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liliace/pseuds/Liliace
Summary: It's the beginning of the Christmas holidays, and Keith crashes at Lance's place. Feelings happen.





	Before Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> This is seriously just unadulterated pure fluff. I wanted to write a Christmas fic so here we go. Hope you enjoy!

Lance observed from a window as Keith put on his helmet and climbed atop his motorcycle. Everyone else had left already, and despite Keith and Lance not really getting along, Keith had volunteered to help Lance tidy up, so he was the last to leave. Hunk, Pidge and Shiro had been in a rush to catch their flights, so Keith's offer was gladly accepted by Lance.

Keith wasn't in any rush because he didn't have a flight. He wasn't going anywhere for Christmas. Lance felt kinda bad about that, since Christmas was so important to him and his family, but it wasn't like there was anything he could do. Shiro had offered to take Keith home with him, Keith had refused, and Lance had no reason to think that Keith would accept a similar offer from Lance when they argued more often than not.

So here Lance was, observing Keith leave back to his empty apartment to spend Christmas alone. There was, for once, a thin layer of snow outside and it was even snowing a bit, which made Lance feel a bit incredulous over Keith still using his motorcycle.

His concern was proven correct when Keith didn't leave. Lance couldn't really see what was going on, but it seemed like the bike wasn't turning on, and then Keith got off and started checking something on the motorcycle. Lance waited, hoping that it wasn't horribly broken or anything, but he frowned when Keith eventually stood up and just – stayed there.

Lance waited for a minute or two, but Keith made no move to leave or take out his phone or come back to Lance's place. It looked like Keith was just standing there, defeated, with a slump to his shoulders.

Lance got up from his spot on the sofa and made his way to the door. He might not get along great with Keith, but that didn't mean that he disliked the guy – in fact, he maybe kind of liked him – and common courtesy was enough to get him to pull on shoes and jog down the stairs of his apartment building.

When he opened the door outside, a burst of cold hit him and he shivered. But Keith was still just standing there, though now he had turned his face upwards, so Lance persisted and made his way over even as he regretted not pulling on a jacket.

"Hey," Lance called out, and Keith whiplashed to stare at him. "What's up, dude?"

Keith shifted a bit and cleared his throat awkwardly. Everything Keith did was kind of awkward, though. "My bike won't start. I think – I think it's the cold."

Lance hummed thoughtfully, wrapping his arms around himself and rubbing his sides to keep warm. He didn't know anything about motorcycles, didn't have a car either, and so he was pretty sure that he could in no way help solve the cold problem.

"What's your plan?" he questioned, and received a shrug in return. Lance sighed in annoyance. "You can't just stay out here in the cold forever." To demonstrate, he gave a strong shiver.

"I'm not going to," Keith argued back. "I was just… enjoying the snowfall."

Lance eyed him doubtfully, but didn't really know what to say back or how to argue against that, so eventually he just moved on. "Fine. You've enjoyed it enough, so either call a cab or come back inside." Even as he said it, he knew that Keith wouldn't call a cab. None of them had enough money to just throw it away whenever the situation called for it.

Accordingly, Keith shifted a bit again before sighing deeply and grabbing his stuff from the bike. "… Thanks," he muttered, and Lance just nodded as he led them back in to the warmth of first the building, and then his own apartment.

The Christmas decoration was still on, and Lance felt instantly better being surrounded by them. That's why he had asked Keith to leave them be after the party.

The two friends got rid of their outer wear – which in Lance's case meant only his shoes – before venturing into the living room, where slight awkwardness descended on them. Lance wasn't sure what to do now, what to talk about, but luckily Keith solved that problem for him.

"I… When do you leave?" he asked, and Lance understood that to mean his own journey to his parents' place for Christmas.

"Tomorrow morning," Lance replied. "Couldn't get a flight tonight, so I'm waking up at seven and making my way to the airport," he rolled his eyes, utterly annoyed at the prospect of waking up so early. But seeing his family, and spending the holidays with them, made it completely worth it.

"I'll catch a bus in the morning then," Keith said, and Lance was kind of glad that they didn't have to discuss Keith staying the night because that had the potential to make things awkward.

"Sure," he shrugged, leaning back on the couch and grabbing the remote, hoping that there would be something on TV that would entertain them before it was late enough to reasonably head to bed. Or, well, Lance would head to bed, Keith would have to take the sofa. But it was cool, Pidge had crashed on the couch often enough and never complained.

Hunk, on the other hand, always shared Lance's bed. They had been friends long enough that it felt completely natural, and they were such good friends that cuddling was just part of their affectionate friendship. But now Lance couldn't help but consider the possibility of doing so with Keith, too.

Sharing a bed with Keith was… not something Lance would hate. He had maybe even thought about it before. Cuddling with Keith, holding his hand, sleepy kisses…

But they didn't get along. Lance was a fool to even consider such things, because what reason could there be for Keith to like him?

The TV was playing some sort of romantic comedy, but Lance was barely paying attention. He was glancing at Keith from the corner of his eye occasionally, even as his thoughts constantly swirled around the other guy. They were sitting relatively close, closer than necessary since the couch had ample room for two people, but not so close that they would be touching.

"You could come home with me," Lance blurted out, and when Keith turned to look at him, he continued on stubbornly despite the blush rising on his cheeks. "For Christmas, I mean. No one should be alone on Christmas."

Keith just shrugged casually. "I don't really care. Christmas never meant much to me. And I wouldn't want to impose."

Lance bit his lip, protests already begging to get out. It wouldn't be imposing, during holidays his parents' house always held more people than belonged to their family, and he knew that no one in his family would mind having Keith over. But perhaps this was Keith's way of politely refusing, so Lance refrained from saying all those things.

Instead, he settled on a simple "We wouldn't mind. But you don't have to," and hoped that Keith would prove him wrong.

That didn't happen, though, and both of their attentions turned back to the movie. Supposedly, at least. Lance was still thinking about how he'd actually like having Keith over for Christmas, because otherwise he'd spend a portion of the day worrying that Keith wasn't doing anything fun during the holiday.

Nothing he could do about it, though. Keith had the right to spend his holidays however he wanted to, and Lance couldn't complain if that didn't include him.

Time passed slowly, and even at the movie's ending Lance had barely any idea what had happened during it. He didn't spend time worrying about that, and instead lay his head back against the headrest and stared at the ceiling as he sighed. Soon they would need to sleep, and then they'd both leave on their separate ways in the morning.

"We should go to sleep," Keith said, and Lance hoped that he wasn't imagining the reluctance he picked up on in Keith's voice.

"Nah," Lance said with a tired grin. "Nights are the best of times. Everyone is so much more honest during nighttime," he continued, turning to face Keith and giving an eyebrow wiggle.

Keith smirked a bit. "As if you weren't honest twenty-four seven."

Lance laughed before giving a mock offended gasp. "I'll have you know I'm not! And I was talking about you, anyway."

Everything felt calmer than usually. There wasn't as many sharp edges between them, and Lance didn't know whether it was indeed the nighttime or the approaching Christmas that was making the atmosphere softer, but he appreciated it nonetheless.

"Really?" Keith asked dubiously, apparently focusing on the first part of Lance's argument. "What have you ever left unsaid? Is there something you haven't screamed at the top of the voice to everyone you meet?" If it wasn't for the small grin on Keith's face, Lance may have taken offense to the words. Instead, he felt butterflies fluttering up his stomach as he sniffed haughtily.

"Many things," he said, trying to ignore how one of those things was how he felt about a certain person who happened to be sitting right next to him.

"Oh yeah?" Keith asked challengingly. "Like what?"

And Lance had never been good at backing down from challenges. The only problem was that at the moment Lance couldn't think of any example beyond his feelings for Keith.

And was there a reason to not mention them? Pidge and Hunk knew, as he had indeed screamed at them about it often enough, Shiro probably knew because he seemed to know everything, and really, Keith didn't particularly like or get along with him anyway. So what was the harm? It could make everything awkward, sure, but things were usually awkward between them already.

And perhaps it was the softness of the night, or the Christmas affection already infecting Lance, or how he'd get to escape for a long while the following morning, or how beautiful Keith looked with his small grin and his hair fanning his face and his eyes sparkling, but Lance went for it.

"Like the fact that I like you," Lance said, feeling instantly freer and not nearly as concerned about Keith's response as he'd have expected to be.

That response turned out to be a slight blush clearly visible on Keith's relatively pale face, and his grin softening into a smile. "I like you too," he said rather shyly. "And even though you've never said it, I didn't think you, uh, disliked me or anything. We're friends, right?"

And Lance burst into laughter. Trust Keith to miss the social cues and the softness of this situation and not realize what Lance meant. But it was fine, it was adorable, and it was partly why Lance liked Keith.

Now Keith looked offended, though, so Lance hurried to reassure him.

"I'm not – I'm not laughing because of – we are friends, yeah," he said, still chuckling, and then paused to take a breath. Then he looked Keith straight in the eyes and gave a lazy grin. "I was laughing because that wasn't what I meant. I _like_ like you," he finished.

Incomprehension stayed in Keith's expression for a moment before his eyes widened and he blushed almost as red as the silly Christmas jumper he had gotten from Shiro. It was at that point that Lance got a bit nervous again, feeling butterflies in his stomach as his grin wavered.

But he knew that they'd be fine. This wouldn't ruin their friendship. And even if it would, Pidge and Hunk at least would take his side. Not that he wanted anyone to take sides but – he didn't want to lose all his friends. He probably wouldn't, though, of course not, Keith wasn't totally awful. He would probably just let Lance down gently and awkwardness would surround their interaction for a while but it'd be fine eventually.

"Is this a joke?" Keith asked then, almost so quietly that it wasn't enough to capture Lance's attention. But it was just loud enough, so Lance stumbled back to reality from his thoughts.

"No," he said, shaking his head, because of course it wasn't. "I wouldn't joke about that, man."

Keith nodded, accepting his words easily enough and Lance was glad that Keith at least trusted him that much. The blush on Keith's face still hadn't completely disappeared.

But Keith's expression was one of determination when he spoke again, and Lance couldn't detect a single hint of hesitation there. Keith's courage had always made Lance admire him.

"I like you too," Keith said, repeating his earlier words, but this time Lance was more shocked. " _Like_ like you."

Lance opened his mouth to respond, but couldn't get anything out. Keith just looked at him expectantly and Lance couldn't handle it. So he threw his head back and raised his hands over his eyes, groaning.

"Oh my god, dude," he said. "You gotta give me a warning or something. That was – you're not allowed to just – say that."

"You said it first!" Keith argued back, and suddenly Lance couldn't help but laugh. Here they were, having just confessed their feelings to each other, and yet they were arguing again. After a moment, Keith joined in on his laughter, and Lance couldn't help the large, beaming smile that spread across his face. That sound was just too beautiful.

"Okay," Lance said, opening his eyes and pulling his hands back. "Okay. We like each other."

"Yes," Keith agreed, and Lance let out a small giggle again. Then he turned to Keith and grinned.

"I know you already gave me a gift," he started, "but all I want for Christmas is you."

To be honest, Keith probably wouldn't have gotten the reference if they hadn't been playing a wide range of Christmas songs during the party. But even as he understood it now, his cheeks darkened again.

"You can have me," Keith said, and when Lance's eyes widened he also appeared startled and continued hurriedly. "As a boyfriend! You can date me."

Now it was Lance's turn to blush even as his grin just widened. "Good. That's – good. Yes. You know what would be good too?" When Keith shook his head confusedly, Lance smirked. "A kiss."

"Oh," Keith replied in surprise. "That's – uh. I… Don't know if…"

Lance observed his floundering for a moment before throwing an arm around Keith – that much Keith had always been comfortable with from his friends – and interrupting him. "We don't have to. No rush, bro. It's all cool."

Keith gave him a smile with a hint of relief in it, and Lance figured he had said the right thing. That wasn't always the case – too often it wasn't, as Lance had a tendency to put his foot in his mouth. Kindness came easily to him, but expressing that kindness, not so much.

"Thanks," Keith said, and Lance just quietly told him that there was nothing to thank him for. Then neither of them said anything for a while, but Keith leaned into Lance and Lance tightened the hold he had on Keith.

They stayed cuddling like that for many minutes until Lance started to feel sleepy, and he brushed his hand against Keith's shoulder to gain his attention.

"I don't know if this is weird, this early in our – relationship," and he couldn't help but grin widely at the word, "but would you like to sleep in my bed? Just sleep, you know, like I do with Hunk. You can sleep on the couch if you wanna but just thought I'd ask."

Keith bit his lip before shrugging the shoulder Lance's hand rested on. "We can share a bed. I don't mind."

Lance knew that Keith was careful with physical affection, and didn't like being touched that much. The only person whose touch had never bothered him was Shiro, and Lance felt honored that he now appeared to be included on that list.

Perhaps, since he appeared to be at least almost equal to Shiro in this, he should ask Keith about Christmas again.

"And you know that coming home with me wouldn't be imposing, right? Really. Especially now that you're my boyfriend, but my family would've been happy to accept a friend too, you know, so like feel free to come if you want to but no pressure," Lance said relatively quickly, wanting to get it all out before Keith had an opportunity to refuse.

"I'm fine, really," Keith replied. "Like I said, I don't really care about Christmas. It's just another day to me."

"Not to me, though," Lance said, feeling a little awkward. He couldn't very well ask Keith to spend so much money just to visit Lance's family, but… Maybe he could get at least something. "Okay. How about this?" Lance asked with determination. "I'll call you on Christmas morning. And during the day. And evening. And I'll maybe call every day anyway."

In response, Keith chuckled, before wrapping his own arm against Lance's torso. Lance felt blessed.

"That's fine," Keith said. "I don't mind talking to you. And we can text throughout the days."

That was a good plan. Great, even. Lance was an avid texter, which Keith well knew, being part of their group chat, so texting all day would suit Lance just fine. And he wanted to share everything with Keith, even if Keith wouldn't actually physically be there.

Being apart right after getting together would suck. But phones would help bridge the distance, and Lance really didn't think that it would do any damage to their new relationship.

"You know," Lance said quietly, leaning towards Keith with a soft smile. "I don't think anything I'll get for Christmas can top this."

Keith replied with a smile just as gentle. "I know nothing I got does."

And maybe it wasn't Christmas day yet, but Lance could definitely feel Christmas magic surrounding them.


End file.
